


Ride on

by StrangeNoise



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, Goldsickness, Thorin loses his mind, War, dragonsickness, more tags to be added as the story continues probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2014-04-25
Packaged: 2018-01-20 17:57:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1519928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeNoise/pseuds/StrangeNoise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the reclaiming of Erebor Thorin sees enemies lurking everywhere. To defend Erebor and its treasures he declares war on everyone he deems a threat to his power.<br/>In the beginning everyone has their own reason to just obey his orders, but as the people of Erebor begin to suffer more and more from countless wars, even his family turns away from the new King under the Mountain and is desperately looking for a way to bring Thorin to his senses...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ride on

Fili's hand closed around the handle of his sword and a small smile crept onto his face. He was finally able to fully use his hand again, after it had been useless for the better of the last two to three months. Right after the battle Balin had tended his injuries and told him that there was a slim chance that the hand would never recover completely. Luckily this had not been the case and although it still hurt sometimes Fili was now able to go back to sword fighting.   
The blond dwarf was incredibly grateful that he and his brother had not been too severely injured during the battle that had commenced after the reclaiming of Erebor. Surely they both fashioned lots of nasty scars all over their bodies and Kili was still limping occasionally, but Fili thought they could have had it worse.

It felt as if the room grew colder, as the young dwarf started to remember and suddenly found himself on the battlefield again. Among his feet lay the corpses of elves, orcs, men and dwarves. He himself as covered in blood and shaking, but too busy looking for his younger brother and uncle to feel the pain in his right hand. The view of the battlefield around him made him feel sick and he felt like throwing up, but he somehow managed to fight down the urge and began to wander across the dead bodies that covered miles and miles of landscape.

Shaking his head almost violently Fili returned to reality and everything vanished, except the pain in his hand. He had not realized how badly injured his hand had been, until he had found Thorin and Kili both alive and he was beginning to calm down. Whilst Oin had taken care of Kili's broken leg, the youngest heir had pointed out that his older brother's hand looked weird and was bleeding. Before Fili could even take a proper look at it, Balin had taken his sword from him and taken Fili's hand in his, touching and pressing in several places, whilst the blond had-much to his own shame-screamed like a little boy who had scraped up his knee. After one or two minutes of agonizing pain Balin had muttered something along the lines of 'It's a miracle that you were able to hold your sword until now. That hand is crushed to pieces...' and set to push the broken bones back into their places. 

Now, three months after the battle only a few scars and a pinky that had an odd angle later, Fili's hand had fully recovered. Actually, almost everyone had recovered from their injuries by now and the rebuilding of Erebor was going as well as it possibly could. Lots of dwarves were slowly coming back and the once almost ghostly halls were filled with people more often than not. Erebor was in fact on its way to become a proper kingdom once again and everyone admired Thorin, the king who had reclaimed their homeland. Needless to say that Fili and Kili were more proud of their uncle than ever before. 

A knock on the door made Fili snap out of his thoughts and turn towards the door. "Come in", he called out, as he sheathed his sword again.   
The door opened and in came Kili and Ori. The latter one- as always, lately,- hid behind a pile of books that he was carrying. Shakily he crossed the room and sat the pile down on a table.  
"Your mother asked me to bring these to your room", he told Fili, after he had turned around to face him, "She says you need to learn some manners, if you want to impress all the young ladies that are now so interested in you."   
"Don't act as if no one would be interested in you!", Kili exclaimed, causing Ori to blush, "I saw you at the library yesterday. You were there with a girl and she actually touched you quite often..."  
"Quit the teasing, Kili!", Ori whined, his face red as a tomato by now, "And please do not tell Dori!"  
Both, Fili and Kili started laughing at Ori's request and after they had assured they would never tell Ori's oldest brother, the young scribe even joined in on their laughter. 

"By the way, uncle wants to see us", Kili mentioned casually after some minutes, "He said it was quite important. I wonder what he wants..."  
"Well, we would know by now, if you had told me a little earlier", Fili replied with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, "We should go see him then and ask him why he wants to see us."   
"You two do that. I will be back at the library, if you need me", Ori said and left the room, without giving any of them the chance to make another remark about him and the girl he was seeing.  
Fili cast a glance at his younger brother, who grinned and followed Ori out of the door. There he waited for the blond to catch up and follow him to the throne room.

When they arrived, they saw their uncle sitting on the throne, wearing a stunning golden crown and golden braids in the beard that was growing back to the length it had been, before Erebor had been taken by Smaug. So far nothing that hinted on what their uncle wanted to speak to them about. Balin, standing next to him and fashioning his usual concerned frown was also nothing special.   
What really confused the king's nephews was the fact that their mother was on Thorin's other side, fuming and casting angry glances at everyone, who happened to walk by. The brothers looked at each other with a gaze that said 'Did you do something?', but only found their own confusion mirrored on each other's faces.   
Once they stood in front of their uncle, they found his face hardened and gaze determined. Since the reclaiming of Erebor this had been nothing new to them either. They had mutually decided that Thorin had to look like this, now that he was king and neither of them bothered.

"You are here. Finally", Thorin stated with not one bit of sympathy in his voice, "What took you so long?"   
Kili wanted to answer, but before he could to as much, as to open his mouth, his uncle silenced him with a shake of his head and a gesture of his hand.  
"I have no time to listen to your excuses", he told them and turned slightly towards Fili, "Has your hand healed completely yet?"   
"It has, uncle", Fili replied with a nod and flexed his hand in front of his uncle's eyes to show him that he was not lying.   
"You did a good job healing him", Thorin said towards Balin this time and with the hint of a content smile on his face, before he turned back to Fili and the almost-smile fainted, "You will need your hand and sword very soon."  
"Why this, uncle?", Fili asked with a confused frown on his face and looked at his uncle, then Balin, then his mother, "Are we going to be attacked?"  
Thorin shook his head slowly. "Not yet. But our enemies are lurking everywhere", he told Fili, "We need to wound them, before they can wound us."  
"What are you talking about?", Kili interrupted, "Who is our enemy?"  
"According to your uncle everyone is", their mother stated and it was impossible not to hear the bitterness in her voice.  
"Be quiet, Dis", Thorin growled, before focusing on his nephews again, "Men are returning to rebuild Dale and it will not take long, until they take interest in our gold. And who knows what the people of Laketown are up to, once their strength is rebuilt..."  
"We have seen Laketown mere months ago. It was a crushed town with no strength at all", Kili reminded his uncle.  
"It still is, but as you might remember I have promised them a part of our treasure in order to ensure their help", Thorin explained to them, "And I am not willing to give any of our gold to them, no matter what they have done to us. Once you give a beggar money, he will always come back and ask for more."   
Both Fili and Kili looked at their uncle with puzzled expressions on their faces, so he continued talking: "Because I refuse to give them any gold at all they will surely come here and demand to have it. Probably even more than I promised them. I am absolutely sure that if I do not give them what they want they will attack us and surely the men of Dale will join them and we cannot have that."

It took Fili a moment, before he realized what exactly his uncle had just said. He turned to his brother to see him, mouth gaping open in shock. Apparently Kili had understood too.  
"So...what you are saying is that we have to declare war on Dale and Esgaroth?", Fili asked, not willing to believe this was what Thorin wanted, until the king had clearly said so.  
"I do believe that we do not necessarily need to declare war on Dale. They are too weak and too few up to now to be a challenge, if we try to take over the town", Thorin replied tightly, "But for Esgaroth...I have already sent word to the Master and asked him to either submit to us or to stand up to our forces in a battle. If I do not receive his answer until sundown today I will send soldiers to take the town by force."   
Fili swallowed hard and looked into the faces of Kili, Balin and his mother. Kili seemed to be as shocked and confused as he was, whilst Balin just looked exhausted and their mother still glared around the room. The blond surely understood his uncle's concerns. He did not want the quest to reclaim of Erebor and the many sacrifices it had cost them to be in vain, but he was not entirely convinced that what his uncle planned for Dale and Laketown was necessary. Then again, he had often enough been reminded that he was still young and had to learn lots more until he could be a good king one day. Maybe he was just too young and carefree once again to see the problems Erebor was facing. After all the kingdom was wavering and every little blow could make it come tumbling down like a house made of cards. His uncle surely knew what he was doing. 

Moments later Thorin's words interrupted Fili's train of thought.  
"If it comes to battle, I want you to lead our troops to Esgaroth and ensure our victory, Fili", he told the blond and for the first time in weeks a fond smile crept on his face.  
"I will not allow you to send my sons to battle again!", Dis protested angrily, her chest heaving with heavy breaths, "They have seen the wrath of battle only months ago! Why would you force them to see it again, without a need to do so?!"  
"You know nothing, sister", Thorin replied, the smile vanishing once again, "It is necessary for our kingdom."  
"They are still young, Thorin!", Dis objected, "Fili is too young to lead an army!"  
"I am not, mother", Fili heard himself say and saw his mother's eyes widen in shock. Maybe it was just him not wanting to be called too young to do this or that, but he found himself determined to do what Thorin asked of him. "One day I will be king and I will sit on this throne", he told his mother calmly, "It is time for me to learn how to be successful in battle. Otherwise I might not be able to defend Erebor, if need be."  
"Fili...", Dis whispered soundlessly, tears welling up in her eyes, "I cannot lose you!"  
"You will not", Fili promised her and walked up to her to wrap his arms around her, but she shoved him away.  
"I will send Dwalin with him", Thorin informed his sister, who only laughed bitterly, "He is experienced on the battlefield and protect Fili with his life."  
"I never thought piles of gold would become more important for you than the well-being of your family", Dis hissed and without another word she left the throne room.

There was a moment of silence, before Thorin started to speak again.  
"As for you, Kili, you will lead the taking over of Dale", he told his youngest nephew, "I will also select some experienced warriors to help you and guarantee your success."  
Kili nodded quickly and cast a glance of disbelief at his older brother.   
"You may leave now", Thorin told them, "I will inform you, if a response from Esgaroth arrives, Fili. But be prepared to leave tomorrow."  
It was Fili's turn to nod, before Kili and him turned around to leave the throne room. Neither of them could quite believe what had just happened and they could not even speak. Fili suddenly felt as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders, as he made his way to his chamber to go and pack his things in case he would have to go to war the next day.


End file.
